GOD REDUCED THE AGE OF A WOMAN BY 5 YEARS SO SHE COULD UNDERGO A SPECIAL MEDICAL PROCEDURE
FROM TIME TO TIME, GOD SUDDENLY STOPS ME FROM PREACHING AND SAYS, “THERE IS SOMEONE HERE …” – POWER TRANSFERRED BY A SPARK
HEAVEN IS THE HIGHEST OF HEIGHTS; YOU CAN PRETEND ON EARTH, BUT GOD KNOWS THOSE WHO ARE HIS OWN
WHEN YOU ARE TRULY CONNECTED TO GOD, THE SKY IS NOT YOUR LIMIT, YOU KEEP ON SOARING
POWER CAN BE TRANSFERRED BY CONDUCTION THROUGH THE LAYING OF HANDS ON THE SICK
WHEN YOU USE ANOINTED HANDKERCHIEFS, POWER IS TRANSFERRED BY CONVECTION
AS BELIEVERS, WE CAN TRANSITION TO THE LEVEL WHERE GOD’S POWER IS TRANSMITTED EFFORTLESSLY AND EFFICIENTLY
GOD IS MY “POPSI” THERE IS AN INTIMACY BETWEEN US BECAUSE I AM SANCTIFIED
IF YOU HAVE BEEN SPEAKING IN TONGUES AND YOU DON’T SEE THE EVIDENCE OF POWER, PRAY FOR THE BAPTISM IN THE HOLY SPIRIT
WHEN THE HOLY SPIRIT IS THE ONE WHO GIVES YOU TONGUES, HE WILL BACK IT WITH POWER
ANYONE WHO IS LIVING IN SIN IS D£AD – BUT JESUS CHRIST HAS THE ABILITY TO RESURRECT YOU.
HIGHER THAN SALVATION IS SANCTIFICATION WHICH MAKES YOU A FAVOURITE OF GOD
SANCTIFICATION HELPS YOU TO BE ABLE TO LIVE THE KIND OF LIFE THAT GOD REQUIRES OF YOU BECAUSE GOD IS HOLY
AS LONG AS YOU ARE STILL BREATHING THERE IS HOPE FOR YOU – DON’T LET THE devil DECEIVE YOU!
WHEN YOU ARE ON A HILL – IN CONNECTION WITH GOD, IT BECOMES EASIER FOR GOD TO ANSWER YOUR PRAYERS
IT IS MORE BEAUTIFUL FOR GOD TO TAKE YOU ABOVE YOUR MOUNTAINS THAN TO BOTHER TO MOVE THEM
I LOVE CROWDS BUT THE CROWD AT THIS LAST CONVENTION GOT ME AFRAID – IT WAS AWESOME!
WE HAD HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF CHILDREN AND NOT A SINGLE ONE WAS MISSING
WHEREVER YOU MAY FIND YOURSELF, EVEN UNDERNEATH THE EARTH, GOD IS ALWAYS THERE
- Pastor E. A. Adeboye on “GREATER HEIGHTS” || September Thanksgiving Service || RCCG || 1st September 2024
Just in case you’re wondering, why are we saying Happy New Year? The New Year of the Redeemed Christian Church of God begins in September and I’m sure you know that our God is always getting better and better. He reserves the best till the last. The last convention was awesome. I am a man of crowds – I love crowds. When I see the crowd, I feel happy. But this last convention, I was afraid. When I saw the crowd, I was afraid – I don’t mind confessing that to you. Church Gist. Particularly when I got to the children’s section, they don’t show them on most of the screens, but when you stand and you look to your right for almost a kilometre and there are children. You turn to your left, almost a kilometre there are children. Hundreds of thousands of them. I said, God, have mercy on me because if somebody gives you a hundred children and he says, “help me look after these hundred children for one week.” You know the implications. Church Gist. Children are supposed to be restless, playful and at the end of it, not a single one was missing. My God is good. I want to assure you, better things are ahead!
So our theme this morning is: greater heights. The world is in levels – even physically. You have those who are in the hole – 6 feet under the ground, those who are on the surface of the ground but in a valley, those who are on a hill, those who are on a mountain. But there’s something even higher than the mountain. We call it the sky. Church Gist. But when we talk about the sky, there is the sky and there is the sky. The journey from here to the moon travelling by the best rocket, will take you 3 days. The journey to the sun will take you a couple of years. Then beyond the Sun we have places like Mars, Jupiter, etcetera, that will take a little longer. Above it all, there is Heaven.
- I will see you in Heaven one day!
Isaiah 40:28-31. The world in every facet of it is in levels. Politically for example, we have those who are called Party stalwarts – this is a polite name for thugs. Those people, they are lower than the lowest because when there is any confrontation between two politicians, the stalwarts will fight against one another. In the process, some get killed and many atimes when the battle is fierce, they don’t even wait for those who died, the rest will escape with the politician. Church Gist. Then there is a level higher than that, when you become may be a councillor, you won’t be carrying axes and cutlasses about. Then you can move from there and become a governor. Then you can move from there and become the President. So, there are levels.
In sports, because I used to be a boxer – I don’t look like one now – in boxing there are levels. There is that level where your opponent knocks you out so thoroughly – they carry you out of the ring. Many atimes you will wake up on your way to the hospital – that’s one level. The second leve, they knock you out, alright but you woke up before you got out of the ring – that’s another level. Church Gist. Then there’s a level where you have lost 3 fights in a row – that’s a level. Then of course there is that level where you are the champion. Particularly when you’re winning again and again. Then there is that level where you retire undefeated – the undefeated champion. Levels!
But wherever you may find yourself, God is always there. Even if you find yourself in a hole, underneath the Earth, he will be there. Daniel 6:1-end. Daniel was in the den of lions. The den of lions is a special hole dug into the ground where lions are kept. Church Gist. But he went there and came out alive because Deuteronomy 33:27 says, underneath are the everlasting arms. No matter how low you go, his hands are still underneath you.
- I have good news for those of you who might be underneath the Earth, because you came today, you will come out of the ground!
Then of course there are those who are on the face of the Earth but they are in a valley. Valley is representative of depression. As a matter of fact that’s what they call it in scientific terms. When someone is in serious depression, he might even be considering going underneath the earth. You have heard people say, “I wish the ground will open up and swallow me.” Church Gist. That’s when they find themselves in some very serious embarrassment. 1 Kings 19:1-8.
- For those of you who might be in a situation where you are beginning to think that may be death is better than life, I have good news for you, as long as you are still breathing there is hope!
Ecclesiastes 9:4. So don’t let the devil deceive you that there is no hope for you. No matter your situation, as long as you are still breathing, in the name that is above every other name, you’re going to shout for joy!
Then there are those who are on a hilltop. That is, things are already looking up, you’re no longer on the ground, you have climbed. When you are on a hilltop, the beauty there is that particularly when you are in connection with God, the enemies will have to try to climb to reach you. That means you are above them. 1 Kings 18:36-40. Church Gist. If you’re on a hill and God is on your side, any enemy that is trying to climb to come and meet you there, is going to be burnt by fire. It’s beautiful to be on the hilltop. That’s why when you hear some people who are fasting, you ask him to come and eat, he will say, “I am on a hill.” He doesn’t want to say, I am fasting. When you’re on a hill, it becomes easier for God to answer your prayers.
But then, there’s something higher than the hill that’s called the mountain. 1 Kings 18:41-45. Elijah was already on a hill on Mount Carmel. He had prayed and fire had fallen and all his enemies had been vanquished. But then, he wanted something more: he wanted to pray so that rain will fall. Church Gist. The Bible said, he climbed higher. He was already on a mountain but even on a mountain, there are levels. So you can move a little higher than you are.
- I am praying for all of us who are here today, before the end of this month, you will be on a higher level!
But then the text we read this morning told us that, you can even fly above mountains. Isaiah 40:28-31. I’ve always told my children, one of the most beautiful things that can happen is for God not to bother to move the mountains blocking your way but to take you above them so that you’re flying and you’re just looking at mountains below. Church Gist. The first time I flew from Nigeria to Sierra Leone in the blessed Nigeria Airways of blessed memory, it was during the afternoon and we were not too far up but I could see all the hills, all the mountains, they look beautiful when you are looking at them from above.
- From this morning onwards, you will be flying above your mountains!
But let’s talk spiritually for a few minutes. A sinner is in a hole. Ephesians 2:1. He might not be buried yet, but anyone who is living in sin is dead. Thank God Jesus Christ is still there, no matter how low, no matter how long you’ve been dead, he has the ability to resurrect. John 11:1-44. Church Gist. There might be one or two of us, who are still enjoying sin, who will lie and enjoy it and say, “I set him up,” and might be those who will say – when he has committed adultery – “I conquered another one,” etcetera. Rejoicing in what we call sadness. But there is someone who can still raise the dead. I am praying today, that any sinner listening to me, today, you will come out of the hole.
Then, higher than that are those who are saved. 2 Corinthians 5:17. Salvation brings you to that level where you forget everything, all the rotten things you have done are washed away and you have a brand new life. Church Gist. Many atimes, you can’t even recognise yourself – “am I the one who used to do all those things? Am I the same person?” You are out of the hole and God has already put your feet on the rock to stay.
Then, there is something higher than salvation. That is what is called Sanctification. When you’re saved, your sins are washed away. But it is Sanctification that will help you not to sin again. It’s like when you are working in a company. I don’t know if they still do so, but when you do something wrong, they give you a query. Church Gist. You answer the query, both the problem and the answer to the query, they put in your file. In many companies, provided you don’t have more than 3 queries in 3 years, at the end of the third year they remove every query from your file – to give you a new beginning. So your file will be clean as if you have not received a single query. But if after they have just wiped clean your file, you begin to make mistakes again, then you begin to put fresh queries in your file. The ability never to have any other query in your file is given to you by what is called Sanctification because when you become born again, the blood of Jesus cleanses from all sins. Every lie you have told, every person you have cheated, everything as far as God is concerned, the day you got born again the blood of Jesus wiped it away. But then, you need Sanctification to help you now, to be able to live the kind of life that God requires of you because God is holy. That’s why when Paul was praying for the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians 5:23, he prayed that God will sanctify you wholly. Give you the ability completely – body, soul and spirit – never to annoy God again. Church Gist. That’s why I’m praying for everyone of you who are already saved are not yet sanctified, cry for sanctification. In case you didn’t hear me during the convention when I was speaking on the power of sanctification, go and get the tape, listen to it. Sanctification is beautiful, it makes you a favourite of God.
Oh, everybody can call God ‘Father;’ only the sanctified can call God, ‘Daddy’ and there’s a lot of difference because I remember when I started calling God, Daddy, some of my colleagues told me, “what kind of pride is that? God is the Father of everybody.” I said, I agree; he is the father of everybody but he is my Daddy. Church Gist. Daddy means special; it is what you call someone who is…I mean, there is an intimacy between the two of you. In modern language you call him, Popsi. I’m sure you get that one. God is my Popsi. We are so close. He tells me certain things. I am not a prophet but once in a while he will tell me, “Son, this is coming.” At times he will ask me to tell you, at times he will say, just keep your mouth shut, because it is to be between you and us. Or he will give me a way that I will say it so that eh, people will not come and arrest me.
When he said the whole world will have a holiday, that was the best way he could explain that Corona Virus is on the way and when the thing broke, everybody had holiday – whether white or black. Church Gist. Some of you will say, “okay, what is he telling you now?” Ehh, he’s telling you it is going to be alright with you. Sanctification is beautiful; it’s on a higher level than salvation.
Then after you have been sanctified, there’s a higher level and that’s the level of power – baptism in the Holy Spirit. Acts 1:8. You will say, “but how come then that all these people who pray in tongues, how come that they don’t have power?” Do you know the kind of tongues they are speaking? Some tongues are not given by God. Church Gist. All you need to do is listen carefully and you’ll find that the fellow who says he is speaking in tongues is repeating the same thing two, three times – “achakachakachaka achakachaka.” When you’re speaking, even if you are speaking in Yoruba, it’s not only “egbelembe o egbelembe o” If you go to America where they don’t understand Yoruba and you say, “egbelembe o” they think you are speaking in tongues. There are some tongues that are copy; there are some tongues that come from the Holy Spirit. So today, if you have been speaking in tongues and you don’t see the evidence of power, when it is time to pray, pray for the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Church Gist. When the Holy Spirit is the one who gives you the tongues, he will back it with power. I’m not the one who said so.
But then, even among those who have power, there are levels because we are talking about greater heights and I want you to leave this place today, completely different. Church Gist. My cry to God is that everyone of us after last convention, we will be completely different.
I have said it before: power or heat – to use the example that is easy to understand because there is a link between power and heat. The motorcycle is more powerful than the bicycle – why? Because there is something called an engine that produces heat and it is through the production of that heat that the motorcycle moves. You don’t believe me? Church Gist. Go to the Airport and see a plane that is about to take off. You will see some heat being generated. Anyway, suppose you have power and you want that power to become useful in a particular direction, heat can be transmitted 3 basic ways: by conduction – conduction means I have heat, I want to transfer part of that heat to you, so I come and lay hands on you. That’s by conduction. Acts 3:1-8 – the power flowed by conduction and the ankle bone received strength and the man jumped up and began to walk.
When you’ve received power and you want to begin to manifest that power, initially you will lay hands on the sick and they recover. But there is another way of doing it when you grow and that is, what we call in science – transfer of heat by convection. I have heat, I put that heat into something. That something takes the heat to where it is needed. Church Gist. I take an handkerchief, I pray over it, I soak it with anointing, I send it to someone far away. The fellow comes in contact with that handkerchief, the power transfers through the handkerchief to that fellow. That is, transfer of anointing by convection. You will get to that level! Acts 19:11-12.
But there is still a level higher than that one but this time you don’t have to send handkerchief, or send apron, just what we call in science transfer of heat by radiation. Acts 5:14-16 – in other words, when people heard that Peter was coming to town, if he is coming in the morning, they know where the Sun will rise and they will go and lie the sick on the other side of the road so that his shadow can fall upon them. Church Gist. He is not leaving them with an handkerchief, he’s not touching them, but by radiation those people got the anointing needed for their healing and deliverance. I wasn’t planning to tell you stories this morning because I want you to be able to repeat this sermon. This is a new year, this will be my New Year gift to you.
But some of you will remember a time, several years ago when we were having a Holy Ghost Service at the very first auditorium and all of a sudden God spoke to me and said there were some people there who had severe back ache – so severe that for a long time they have never been able to touch their toes. He said, “call them out, I want to heal them.” I was happy. I called them out and they came. I thought he was going to ask me to lay hands on them but no, he said, dance round them. Church Gist. I was a bit confused. How can I dance round sick people? What will I say I am dancing about? I am rejoicing your back is aching? But I know who spoke. So I told the boys to begin to hit their drums and I danced round those people and I felt very foolish doing it. But after dancing for a while, he said, that’s enough. Tell them to go ahead and touch their toes and they were all healed. That’s Healing by radiation!
By the grace of God, he has moved us into operating more and more via radiation. That’s why you find that on many occasions during any special program, we will ask you to lift up your handkerchief or something and we wave our hand. Some of you will think we are joking, some of you know we are not joking. At least you heard the testimony of somebody during the convention who was involved in a fire accident. Church Gist. His body was burnt but the dress he wore was not touched by fire because on one occasion he had worn that dress and we had waved our hands to say, every dress on that had become specially anointed. The anointing is so powerful – fire cannot even destroy it. Today, wherever you may be watching, I wave my hand towards you and I decree, be anointed!
But there’s yet a level higher than that – that’s the level where in science if you want to call it, is when power is transferred by a spark. You know, they tell you when you are in a petrol station, “don’t smoke here o.” Why? Because the fume of the petrol may reach out and catch the fire of your cigarette – it is transferred by spark. You can get this power transferred just as the preacher is speaking. Psalm 107:20 – in other words, God sits down in Heaven, he didn’t send an handkerchief, he didn’t come round for radiation, he sent his word and the Word will heal them and deliver them from their destructions. You are very familiar with that because from time to time you have heard the testimony that God will just suddenly stop me preaching and say, there is someone here and this this this this. When you hear it many of you will say, what’s he talking about? It means nothing to you because you are not the one he is talking to. Until the fellow comes to testify then you say, yes I remember when he said that.
I still remember one of the testimonies that gave me tremendous joy. I think the testimony was given in July – of a woman who went to the Doctors for one special procedure and they told her, “how old are you?” She said 58. “Ah! You’re too old. We can only do this thing for someone who is 55 maximum.” She came to the Holy Ghost Service and as she was coming, God spoke and said there is someone here, I am reducing your age by 5 years. I am sure you heard the testimony. When some people talk of fake miracles, how can you fake that? This fellow was just coming in, I’ve never met her, she has not told me what the doctor said, she told her husband, “you heard that? Now my age, instead of being 58, is 53. Let’s go back to the doctor.” They went back to the doctor, she told the doctor, “now I am 53.” The doctor looked at her and said, what kind of joke is this? Last week you were 58. “Ehhh but now I am 53. Just go ahead and do your procedure.” The result of the procedure we all saw!
- I don’t know what it is that you need to make this new year the best year of your life but may I say to you today, receive it in Jesus’ name!
Of course there is a height higher than all these ones we are talking about and that is Heaven because you can perform miracles on Earth, you can heal the sick, raise the dead, you can speak a word and miracles can happen and then you can get to Heaven and Jesus Christ will say, “I don’t even know you,” Call you a worker of iniquity. Because you can pretend on Earth, you can call yourself a prophet, supreme apostle, but God knows those who are his own. You can’t deceive God. That’s why the text we read says, those who wait upon the Lord, those who are connected to the Lord, they are the ones who will keep on flying and never get tired. Because if you are connected to the source of electricity, you won’t run out of power. When you are truly connected to God, the sky is not your limit, you keep on soaring.
That’s why I am appealing this morning, you want greater heights, you want to be much higher than where you are now, get connected to Jesus. I am not talking of just coming to Church. I am talking of you being hungry for him. There are some of us, we can’t wait for the door of the Church to be opened, we want to be close to our maker. So those of you who have not even had contact with him, you have not surrendered your life to him, I beg you today, come and surrender your life to him.
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